Santiago Iñiguez, Dean of Instituto de Empresa.
Let me go back to a previous post in this blog by Prof. Peter Lorange, a widely respected scholar in business strategy and in management education worldwide. He there makes a solid, impeccable statement: Strategy is about choice and each business school should concentrate on those educational activities, segments and markets where it can perform successfully. He also illustrates his statement with the example of IMD, the renowned institute that he has directed in the past decade. I want to comment on two of the ideas he proposes.
First, he affirms that "sometimes strategy means no". I agree with him if "sometimes" is emphasised. I believe that the challenges of globalisation force us to systematically analyse novel options and to carefully scrutinise new market opportunities before rejecting them. Innovation means saying yes to new ventures although they may lie beyond the core of our business as we conceive it today. Let me just mention one example. Two decades ago, Executive MBA programmes were seen by many in Europe as "improper" for truly academic business schools: a search in the annals would bear this up. Today, they are the fastest growing segment within the family of MBAs. The same applies to e-learning and blended programmes that combine on-line and face-to-face methodologies. Not long ago many insider detractors criticised these new formats as destructive to the genuine learning process that could only happen in the conventional class. Evidence however shows that participants in blended programmes have at least the same degree of satisfaction as their fellow students that attend traditional offerings.
I was also interested in reading Prof. Lorange’s point of view about whether business schools should open campuses abroad. I also agree with him. It is very difficult to replicate the same operation that a business school runs at its main campus. Academic institutions have an identity that is tied to its location. Here occurs, if you allow me the expression, the "ivy syndrome": when applicants choose a school they really care about its location, they want to live the experience, to get involved in its atmosphere and to touch the ivy that grows on its walls. The Parthenon of Athens has a perfect replica in Nashville, Tennessee. This later one stands complete and resembles all the sculptures and paintings designed by Phidias twenty five centuries ago, However, the excitement and emotions experienced during a visit to the Acropolis, I am sure you will agree with me, have no comparison.
Tags(clickable): Peter Lorange, IMD, europe, MBA
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